R.I.P.

Kraftwerk Keyboardist Florian Schneider Dead at 73

The influential German electronic band said in a Wednesday statement Schneider passed away from cancer just days after his 73rd birthday.

Florian Schneider, keyboardist and co-founder of the German electronic music group, Kraftwerk, has died at the age of 73. In a Wednesday statement, the band confirmed he died from cancer a few days after his birthday. “Kraftwerk co-founder and electro pioneer Ralf Hutter has sent us the very sad news that his friend and companion over many decades Florian Schneider has passed away from a short cancer disease just a few days after his 73rd birthday,” the band said in a statement, according to Rolling Stone. Hutter and Schneider started collaborating in 1968. In 1970, they founded the electronic Kling Klang studio in Dusseldorf and started the multi-media project Kraftwerk. Schneider was considered the pioneer of modern electric music with his use of keyboards and synthesizers. In 2019, Kraftwerk was nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but the group was not selected.